Data VIII - Souls.
As previously started in the Overlords entry, souls are power. In truth EVERYTHING alive has a soul. Even large mountains and old buildings do. Though how 'alive' they are depends greatly on an entity's understanding and acceptance of the term. What is important, however, is the soul itself, as well as the most common carriers and dealers of such commodities: Humans, Demons and Angels.
While animals of all kinds, from those on Earth, be it land, air and sea, to those in Hell and Heaven, have souls, these are usually much less powerful than the animals themselves tend to be (Except in rare occasions). Most of the time only truly ancient creatures have strong souls (Which is why dragons were so respected and feared, and why they largely live only in Hell now), with the dubbed 'monsters' (Like hydras, for example) being just more magically inclined animals that rarely manage to appear on Earth from their actual living areas in either Heaven or Hell. As such animals are usually rarely predisposed (or able) to use their souls in a manner that has to do with Deals, or any other way, really.
Some creatures have no souls whatsoever however, instead being entities of pure magical might. These entities generally come from Hell's most primal form, or from beyond God's creation. Although it is possible that their being may contain something that COULD be compared to a soul. Such things have strange effects on anything living; Primal Demons bring fear, Eldritch creatures madness, and others… well, there are worse effects than that, but those hardly ever manifest and creatures of such origin are rarely seen.
Nonetheless, souls come in many shapes, sizes and types, probably enough to fill a whole book if you wanted to be specific. As such we'll talk about the three that are most important here: Living Souls, Demon Souls and Angel Souls.
Demon Souls are the most common and, largely, least powerful. Born in Hell and extremely malleable, these souls gain great power in time, if they were once weak, or just multiply it as they age if they were powerful already. Perfect examples are Imps and Goetia in this comparison. An Imp that lives centuries, if not millenia (if they manage to get the means for that) will easily rival younger Goetia if said Imp could get the training and means to don magic and weapons powerful enough. That is, in a 'fair fight' in a much older age (as new weaponry makes these differences moot). Wherheas a Goetia is powerful from the day they were born, as well as nearly unkillable, only to grow much stronger and even harder to kill as they live through the ages.
These souls are hardly of interest for anyone that wishes to make Deals of any kind; their power is attached to their person and, unlike human souls, they cannot part with it without being somewhat harmed or hindered. As such older demons will do their best to never be on the submissive side of the deal where they are the ones giving power. Younger, and weaker, ones see no problem with this in many cases, and even high caste demons, those with real power, may see the need of entering a Deal of some kind, but most will prefer death instead.
In contrast with human souls, demon souls lose most of their essence upon death. The process of 'rebirth' that takes place after a creature's death has a weak hold on demonic entities, as most of their energy permeates Hell after death. They are not fully excluded from this process, but demon souls create far less life than any other soul. This only adds to the general understanding that demon souls are 'weak' in many ways. However, having billions, or more like trillions, of demonic souls in Hell's many Rings means that 'quantity is a quality on their own' is indeed a very real thing.
Sinners, while previously human and 'alive', have their souls in an intermediate state. They are demonic in nature after death, but they retain the power of a living soul. The only difference? Their souls are now 'stagnant', and remain at the power they died in for a lot longer than a human soul should (But it will still grow, if at a comparatively glacial pace). As such, unlike traditional demonic souls, their only way to truly grow is to make Deals, but they likewise can give away a lot of power without real damage, unlike hellborn entities.
Angel Souls, also known as the 'Pure' souls, are the rarest of the bunch. However, despite their innate power, they are heavily controlled in how they can use said power. This translates into incredibly powerful beings, even a simple Cherub could easily measure to a human, with the Cherubim (the original Cherubs of old) being incredibly powerful entities that could, most likely, level a city. But, as said, their souls are in bondage at all times, controlled by Heaven's Will and the Word of God, even if God hasn't had any words in a long, long time.
Control aside, an angel's soul heavily dictates its power. Exterminators, for example, are angels of vengeance and their souls are powerful enough to compare with the best of humanity in life. Even with little training and preparation Exterminators quickly master weapons and acquire strength, agility and endurance that could put most living humans to shame. Paired with a partial immunity to damage (but not pain) this makes Exterminators capable of enduring nearly anything and cleave through a small army by their lonesome.
It is their primary task that limits an angel's power. Exterminators are great warriors, but their development in other areas is lessened, and their minds gear towards warfare. All other angelic creatures do this, their souls guiding them whether they want it or not. For the most 'common' angel, the so called 'Winners' (Or civilian angelic souls that were once humans), this 'task' and 'focus' is to enjoy their afterlife forever.
To make a Deal with an angel of any kind, more so if it becomes 'unbound' (As Lucifer did), would make for a massive power boost for anyone controlling that particular soul. As their power heavily relates to their position and task instead of whether they were born human or not however, the power held within, and how much of it could be used, is fixated instead of how demonic (Sinner or otherwise) or living souls work.
Living Soul are, surprisingly, even more powerful than angelic ones. This more or less 'ceases' to be true when they die, as they become, in most cases, demonic in nature, or the very rare and indeed truly powerful angelic ascension, but in life they have no limit. While this dictates their strength once they die, mixing their lived experiences, their strength in various areas, knowledge and many other factors that decide just how powerful the soul will become after death, until then these souls have no upper ceiling they can achieve. Indeed, humans' growth is only limited by themselves, and even most other creatures, even plants and insects, could attain great power in the right circumstances.
Focusing on humans here however, their power while alive is immeasurable, despite their living bodies acting as the only limiting part worth considering. Primeval Humans could do incredible things indeed, and members of The Order show a fraction of the potential their ancestors had. Most humans nowadays cannot even use magic, not without first being heavily doused in it (getting sent to Hell is a surefire way to end that way), but their souls have the capacity for it in the right circumstances.
As such those that know how to employ this power and, more importantly, how to grow it tend to focus on it to the extreme. While this has to do a lot with belief (Like the belief of 'Cultivation', although much, much, MUCH less insane as old and new myths make it look) and practice, the greatest form of empowering one's soul is through fame and deeds. Murder or saving someone brings power. Getting knowledge any way possible brings power. Acquiring riches, properties, fame and other such thing ALSO brings power. Every action, positive or negative, makes the living soul gain more and more, although how much depends on the soul itself.
Living souls that thrive in Greed or Generosity would gain more or less by acquiring or giving, while other souls may not go for Sins and their counterparts, but concepts like Knowledge or Justice, as well as something more nebulous like Imagination. Despite this, any and all experiences serve to grow a soul's power.
While it is true that some living souls are innately powerful, this is more rare than even the noble born in Hell. More often than not the only way to acquire a strong soul, as a living one, is through trauma and extreme experiences that, more often than not, kill the one experiencing them. But those that grow in power to the level of basically being an Overlord in Hell or perhaps a high ranking angel in Heaven? Those are sought by either Light or Dark to form Deals or find other possible arrangements.
Living souls, after all, are not only massive generators, but some of the strongest pieces on the board for either Hell or Heaven. On Heaven's part it usually is little more than a tame attempt at proselytizing, while with Hell's denizens, usually done by Overlords or nobles, it has more to do with corruption or brute force.
Either way, of all three, living souls are the ones to see the most action and desire, if in extremely small numbers. Not only that, but those living souls attached to either side are easily noticeable… and just as dangerous.
*It is important to note that, despite the offered lore, deceased souls (Sinners) CAN and WILL grow in power as years go by. It is a very slow process however. Whereas demon souls grow much faster, but are generally pitifully powerful at first, which means that a decent growth will be seen in time, human souls that have 'passed on' advance much slower, to a point where a powerful Sinner will not notice the difference for centuries, perhaps millenia. For all intents and purposes this 'means' Sinners grow more skillful with their powers (whatever they may be) more than they grow powerful, unless they make Deals or are indeed very old Sinners. A small tidbit, but do keep it in mind.